The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

Generous Killarney Mall shoppers and retail sponsors have managed to collect one-years-worth of stationery for Thembelenkosini Care Givers in Soweto, part of an ongoing initiative to support the centre.

There’s a popular weekly satirical show in Israel called Eretz Nehederet. In a recent episode, an actor playing Benny Gantz, the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and newcomer to Israeli politics, is asked how he’s feeling.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

How to fight terrorism while at the same time not encourage it is a challenge Israel continues to grapple with. Last Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he was enacting the so-called “terrorist salaries law” for the first time. It allows Jerusalem to deduct from the monthly taxes it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) those monies it claims go towards terrorism.

(JTA) After the New England Patriots beat the favoured Kansas City Chiefs to reach their third straight Super Bowl – their amazing ninth in less than 20 years – CBS sports analyst Boomer Esiason made an intriguing statement, namely that Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

I can’t bear bullies! I know I am not alone in having a serious aversion to anyone or any group who tries to make themselves feel better by making others feel bad about themselves. I can’t stand people who push others around just because they are not able – for whatever reason – to stand up to them.

We have all heard the term before, and either flinched, cringed, or nodded our heads. The words “apartheid Israel” have become a term so often used in the discourse around Israeli-Palestinian conflict that we have somewhat lost our ability to think critically about its use.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

It boggles the mind. Why is so much Torah-coverage given to the subject of an elaborate tent-structure called the tabernacle? The verses that relate to the tabernacle’s construction seem to go on and on. They fill not one, but four weekly portions.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

MDA-SA’s ambulance to carry first name

During a teleconference of all MDA “Friend” societies globally this morning, it was decided that diaspora supporters of Israel’s medical emergency and ambulance service would donate 64 ambulances in November – one for each of those who lost their lives in Operation Protective Edge. And SA will have pride of place - in part thanks to Jewish Report readers. Our ambulance will bear the name of the first soldier who fell. Read more, see how you can help...

by
ANT KATZ | Aug 06, 2014

There will be a mass handover of the new ambulances in November, which will be attended by families of those who lost their lives.

As always, donated ambulances will carry the name of the donor country. But these 64 ‘special’ ambulances will also each have on their doors the name of one of the fallen.

As a result of SA Jewry’s disproportionately high contribution through MDA-SA, the SA-donated ambulance will have the honour of carrying the name of the first IDF soldier who fell, 20 year old Staff Sergeant Eitan Barak.

To date, MDA-SA’s special “Protective Edge Fund” has raised R528,000 – with almost 15 percent of that having been donated by SAJR 80-odd SAJR readers. By Tuesday night Report readers’ contributions had surpassed a whopping R75,000 through our oh-so-easy-to-use SAJR/MDA CLICK-ATHONcampaign. The special fund was set up to assist MDA in meeting the additional cost it has borne up to R2-mil a day during Protective Edge.

“We could never have achieved this success in collecting so much for the special fund without the donations and awareness that Jewish Report has given us,” said MDA-SA chairman Mark Hyman Tuesday.

The ambulance collections are also a special fund, says Hyman. MDA friend societies had agreed Tuesday morning that these donations would be channelled through another ‘special’ fund, and not from their normal collection budgets or their Protective Edge budgets.

“This means we need to raise an additional R850,000 for the ambulance,” Hyman told Jewish Report. He had, however, already raised R100,000 by the time he spoke to SAJR.

MDA have saved many, many lives over the past few weeks – both civilian and military. Yoni Yagodovsky, director for international relations at MDA Israel, told Jewish Report that “Donations from SA are immediately connected to a patient currently receiving treatment in Israel – meaning that the donor becomes an active person who is now involved in treating patients and victims – no matter the size the size of the donation,” said Yoni.

“I grew up and live in Jerusalem where the MDA station was built by our friends and donors from SA in 1968 and maintained by MDA-South Africa for many years,” said Yoni. “We continue to receive significant support from Jewish and Christian donors in SA – extremely meaningful support,” he said.

Pick your cause

Report readers are able to continue to support MDA-SA’s Protective Edge campaign with a single click from any page on the website SAJR.CO.ZA! MDA-SA is thrilled with the “overwhelming response” from readers. “We have made appeals through the media before,” says Hyman. But it has never worked for them before. “Now, it just takes one click and that’s it! Donations from as little as R18 can be made via a secure credit card facility,” says Hyman

For readers who want to donate towards the SA ambulance, contact Beulah Hyman, MDA-SA executive secretary, at all hours (except on Shabbos) on the SPECIAL SAJR/MDA HOTLINE AT 079 718-2471 about donations for their special ambulance fund.